The Dying Suns

The Violence of the Equinoxes

In a previous post, I wondered about the violent metaphors related to the equinoxes. The equinoxes are the metaphorical crossing of the sun from the above the "water" to below the water in the fall, and back up again in the spring.

The Osiris Cycle is one of the early versions of the story that we have a record of. Osiris is tricked into a coffin by his brother Seth, who then destroys (or hides) the coffin until it's finally raised up by a tree, where he's found then reassembled by Isis, who gets pregnant by him and gives birth to Horus.

The most familiar story of violence at the equinox is the story of Jesus. He's mocked, scourged, and finally put on the cross at the spring equinox,  and then is resurrected and ascends into the sky. As stated before, the Skull and Bones "322" (March 22) logo is a possible allusion to this story and the Equinox Crossing. (Vernal Equinox is almost always March 20-21, though)

Osiris, like Darth Vader, Jon Snow, and Jesus is the Lord of the Dead, that is winter, or the underworld (or the galactic Empire, or north of the Wall). In Star Wars, Darth Vader helps build a Death Star. Obviously the inverse of the Sun, that is the Winter Sun, possibly the Winter Sun of the Winter Solstice.

That's No Moon

That is, Jesus, like Darth Vader or Osiris (obvious parallels with Prometheus, too) is the character that represents the Winter Sun, which somehow seems to be related to the planet Saturn. (I am still a bit fuzzy on that association--Saturn's the slowest planet? Kind of weak, yellow, feeble light like the winter sun?) So if Jesus is the Winter sun, then he dies on the cross, that is, the equinox as winter turns to spring.

This interpretation makes some sense. The Jesus character is sort of a mini-me version of the summer sun; he is humble and does not put on airs. He is a carpenter, not a warrior, rides a donkey, not a chariot drawn by magnificent horses, and gets a crown of thorns, not gold, and is crowned king of the Jews, which would have been an insult in Roman times. He's the winter sun. He's the wine (crushed, then fermented summer grapes) and the bread (battered, crushed, and baked summer wheat). He's also the friend of man. (like Prometheus)

A good question--one I can't really even guess at right now--is where's Han Solo and Luke in the Bible? Where's Sekhmet? Where's the kick ass summer sun? Definitely not in the New Testament, as far as I know.

The Betrayals of Jon Snow, Jesus, and Osiris

If you go out on a clear night around this time of the year (December) and look up, you'll see Orion dominating the night sky. The constellation seems to be the main character in many myths and legends. In my previous post, I discussed how the dismemberment and roasting of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars is probably an artistic depiction of the helical rising of Orion.

Star Wars seems to be based primarily on the stories of Osiris, Seth, Isis, and Horus. The scenes, characters, and even terminology of the saga can be mapped to a counterpart in stories drawn from Egyptian mythology. The Game of Thrones seems to be based on a fusion of Egyptian, Christian, and Greek mythology, rather than a single source.

In GoT, the Orion character is Jon Snow. Orion or Osiris is the lord of the winter sky and the king of the dead. Through the 5th season, Jon Snow's wardrobe becomes a visual allusion to the constellation. He wears all black, has a fur cape, carries a long sword and has a studded belt.

If Jon Snow is Orion in GoT, and Anakin Skywalker was Orion in Star Wars, then Jon's father, Eddard Stark serves as the Aquarius/Jon the Baptist/Obi Wan character who loses his head as the wheel of the story spins.

Onorio Marinari, Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, c. 1680

Sansa Forced to Look at Ned's Head

In GoT season 5, Jon Snow follows a Jesus-y trajectory. He is elected "Lord Commander" of the Night's Watch in a way that parallels Jesus's triumphant procession into Jerusalem to be King of the Jews. Jesus, the carpenter, is carried by a donkey, just as Hephaestus (the god of blacksmiths and craftsmen) is carried back to Olympus on the back of a donkey. Jon Snow is carried into office on the figurative back of his comic-relief Sam (cf  Samwise Gamgee).

Lord Commander Jon Snow (Orion)

As with Jesus, Osiris, Orion, or even Baldr (of Norse Mythology) the triumph is short lived. There's a horrible betrayal, and the mighty one is destroyed. In the case of Jon Snow, his confidant and aide Olly plays the role of Judas and tricks Jon into becoming the target of a gang of murderers who stab him over and over in the stomach.

Jon Snow betrayed and Stabbed Repeatedly

Cross shown Briefly on Camera to Underline
Jesus-y Scenario

When the constellation Orion character is betrayed or tricked into his fatal situation, or someone else is tricked into "killing him" as happens over and over again in myths, his studded belt becomes a wound. The murder weapon can be an arrow, a spear, a dagger, a sword, a scorpion sting, or even a sprig of mistletoe (for Baldr).

The next phase of the myth is for Jon Snow to begin his journey into the underworld as King of the Dead. So where Mustafara serves as the visual metaphor for the entrance of the Duat in Star Wars, The Wall in the Game of Thrones serves as the entrance, that is, the horizon.

Odin and Hermes

Hermes Trismegistus

A. L. Frothingham's excellent article on Hermes and the Caduceus traces the roots of the god into Babylon and the near East and postulates that Hermes origin was as a god of fertilization. Hermes was the spirit of the union between the male sun and the female earth and the caduceus symbolizes that union.

His role in the classical pantheon expands to every conceivable analogous case. By Roman times, the temple of Mercury served as a marketplace, and Mercury and Hermes were gods of commerce. By the time of the Roman Empire's decline, the character of Hermes and the Egyptian wisdom god, and teacher of mankind Thoth combined as Hermes Trismegistus.

It is really intriguing that Odin, the chief god of the Germanic people, seems to have more of the character of Hermes Trismegistus than a sky god like Zeus. As I noted in a previous post, Odin's day of the week "Wednesday" corresponds to Mercury's day in Romance languages. Dan McCoy's excellent article on Odin elaborates his character and, in my opinion, the parallels with Hermes are evident.

Perhaps Odin reflects the character of the Germanic tribesmen, who were possibly more democratic (cf thing) and more independent than their peers in the classical world. An all powerful sky god just didn't work for them. Perhaps they saw Jesus as the same character. A centuries long experiment with Oriental despotism aka feudalism ultimately was rejected by modern adherents of Hermes.

My interpretation is Hermes is the chief god of the western world and he still is today.